Journalism is one area of media that has a duty to the people rather than to companies or the government. Though there are places for that kind of work such as public relations and advertising journalists have a code of ethics to abide by when reporting. Journalism’s purpose is to tell the truth, report the facts, and leave out opinions.  

Society of Professional Journalists states that ethical journalism should be accurate and fair. Journalists are the ones to be held accountable for how accurate their reporting is. Ways to ensure your work is accurate are by verifying your information before you release it and using credible sources. It’s important to keep in mind that the first person you interview isn’t always the person who has the best information. Whenever I interview someone, I always ask at the end “Is there anyone you think I should talk to that could give me more information about this?”  

For journalism to be fair you must correctly report the context so that someone’s words aren’t misrepresented to mean something rather than what was intended. Celebrities and politicians often accuse the media of taking things out of context. An example of this recently is when President Biden was talking about a mother who lost two of her sons to fentanyl overdoses, specifically Marjorie Taylor Greenes comment about the Biden administration not securing the United States borders to stop Americans from being murdered by Chinese fentanyl. He laughed saying “Isn’t Marjorie Taylor Greene amazing?” Headlines ran saying he was laughing about the situation about the mother losing her two sons.  

Journalists must also identify their sources clearly and try to stray away from using anonymous sources. For the public to get as much information as possible they must be entitled to information about sources so they can make their own judgement on if your work is a reliable source of information. Sources also need to be clearly identified so there can be no confusion about who it is. Full names, ages, hometowns, and job titles must be referenced.  

Anonymous sources are rarely used for this reason. When they are used it is in cases where the source has valuable information and releasing it with their name attached could put them in danger of losing their jobs or possibly lives. When a source like this is used it’s because the information they possess cannot be obtained elsewhere and why the source must be anonymous is included in the work.  

Journalists must be cautious when making promises, rarely make them, uphold the ones they do make. Bob Woodard and Carl Berstein, the reporters who broke Watergate and took down President Nixon, did so by using an anonymous source they called ‘Deep Throat’. Woodard and Berstein never revealed who the source was but at 91 years old Mark Felt revealed himself to Vanity Fair as the whistleblower.